Category: Holidays

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Riding and Knitting Along

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I’ve been doing lots of knitting lately. I’m not knitting for Christmas gifts with the exception of some ornaments. Anything I’m giving that’s handknit has been knit throughout the year.

I’ve finished about 20 pairs of socks this year. I swear it’s been the year of the socks. I wish I had spent more time working on my sweaters in progress but it just didn’t happen. I even started a second Featherweight hoping it would go as quickly as the first.

Arcane has been a wonderful distraction as water to know each other. He’s got an attitude on the ground but is all business under saddle. I rode him this past Monday at just a walk for a little while. He was excellent and even carted Mike around for a little bit.

I’m so excited to see what this next year brings. I’ve been doing a lot of spinning lately on my wheel and drop spindles. Working through my fiber stash and the two fleeces in our garage. Both should be enough for a sweater and now seems like the perfect time to start in on them.

I’m working on Christmas once again but this time voluntarily since Mike will be as well. Here’s hoping it won’t be too bad but every Christmas has been different. Have a very Merry Christmas!

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Lollipop Socks

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This year I made Mike a pair of socks out of the elusive Lollipop Yarn. I stalked the website only once and managed to get both skeins I was after. This one called Moondance was intended for him as soon as I saw the preview.

I used the stitch pattern from Harris Tweed and knit them toe-up with an afterthought heel (instructions from Loop). I really like how they turned out and Mike says they’re comfortable to wear.  I started them back in October and was hoping to have them done by Halloween but they fell of my radar when I messed up the first few inches of the second sock in a bar a few nights before Halloween, so they got put in time out for awhile. I finished them up in time for Christmas and gave them to Mike that day. I’ve still got another ball stashed away for myself for later. As for the yarn itself, it knit up lovely and the colors are so vibrant. I don’t know if I’ll be stalking the site again for it but we’ll see.

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Merry Christmas

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After spending about two hours on Christmas Eve, most of us were sent home because of the lack of well… work. It happens around the holidays and even more so with my new position. Mike and I took full advantage of the time I was home before he had to go to work and ran out to Costco for some last minute shopping and a quick stop at Starbucks before I had to drop him off. Unfortunately both of us are scheduled to work on Christmas and we have very different schedules so it’s going to be difficult but it’s only one year and we’re going to make the best of it. I work early this morning so we did Christmas extra early so we wouldn’t need to rush

Mike’s mother handmade the cutest ornaments for our tree and shipped them to us from Canada. A couple of them broke but we took the rest and strung them with ribbon and hung them from the tree a few nights ago. They really helped fill out our bare tree and are just beautiful. After the disaster of last year’s painful and messy tree we decided to go with a fake tree from Target. When we have kids we’ll let them experience a real tree but for now this works for us and it’s a beautiful tree and it’s supposed to be an Alberta Spruce (for Mike).

I managed to get a bit of knitting done for Christmas but nowhere near what I had originally planned. More photos of those later since none have been given quite yet. I did manage to squeak out a stocking for Mike that needs blocking but is going up anyway. This Christmas seemed to sneak up on us and with both our work/school schedules, it just made it even more crazy. A lot of other stuff has been happening that really killed the Christmas spirit for us and now I’m trying desperately to salvage what I can.

Next year we’re planning a big family Christmas, which I think both of us need. It’s been just us for the past three years and as wonderful as it is it would be nice to see our families and all be together. This commercial has just made me miss it so much.

Merry Christmas!

 

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Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m so thankful this year for my family and friends. I’m thankful for having a good job (and for Mike having one!). I’m thankful for having a roof over my head and my yarn stash to keep me going when inspiration strikes late at night.

Thank you.

 

 

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Constantly Knitting

Lately I’ve been knitting in every second of my spare time. My mom has requested some knit headbands for a couple of her antique shows this holiday season to put antique buttons and pins on, so I’ve been hard at work with those. Also a couple of my co-workers have asked me to make a few custom items for them. I really love making those small things. Instant gratification and then often I get to see the knitwear in use which means me happy. I’ve got so many knitting plans and a sweater to finish and *cough* secret gifts to make *cough* so when I’m not working or studying it’s been full on knitting mode.

I was browsing the Knitpicks website and I think I’ll be making one or two of these tiny little sweaters for our tree this year.

They’re way too cute and will add a nice personal touch to our tree. We were in Target a few weeks ago and saw some wreaths wrapped in yarn. I figured I could do one myself instead of paying $20 for one. Looks like I’m not the only one with this idea! I LOVE this one from The Pleated Poppy even though it’s not wrapped in yarn, it speaks to me. I’m going to have to plan out what I want to do and make it this week. Maybe one for Thanksgiving and another for Christmas. All of them are just gorgeous. I’m thinking we’re going to have a very yarn covered Christmas…